List by @riffiter
Essential hip-hop albums
Twenty albums that tell hip-hop's story from the golden age to the trap era — the canon, in chronological order.
0 likes · sign in to like20 albums
- 1
Paid in FullEric B. & Rakim · 19871987 · Rakim rewrites what an MC can do
- 2
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us BackPublic Enemy · 19881988 · the Bomb Squad's wall of noise
- 3
Straight Outta ComptonN.W.A · 19881988 · reality rap arrives uninvited
- 4
The Low End TheoryA Tribe Called Quest · 19911991 · the jazz-rap blueprint
- 5
The ChronicDr. Dre · 19921992 · the West Coast sound, defined
- 6
Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 ChambersWu-Tang Clan · 19931993 · rugged, raw, endlessly quotable
- 7
DoggystyleSnoop Dogg · 19931993 · G-funk's smoothest hour
- 8
IllmaticNas · 19941994 · ten tracks, zero filler, every list
- 9
Ready to DieThe Notorious B.I.G. · 19941994 · Brooklyn storytelling masterclass
- 10
All Eyez on Me2Pac · 19961996 · the double album as victory lap
- 11
Reasonable DoubtJay-Z · 19961996 · hustler's poetry, debut form
- 12
Supa Dupa FlyMissy Elliott · 19971997 · futurism with Timbaland's bounce
- 13
The Miseducation of Lauryn HillLauryn Hill · 19981998 · the genre's most complete album
- 14
The Marshall Mathers LPEminem · 20002000 · technical skill meets total chaos
- 15
StankoniaOutKast · 20002000 · the South's creative explosion
- 16
Get Rich or Die Tryin'50 Cent · 20032003 · the blockbuster rap debut
- 17
Madvillainy InstrumentalsMadvillain · 20042004 · DOOM and Madlib's cult monument
- 18
My Beautiful Dark Twisted FantasyKanye West · 20102010 · ego as art form
- 19
good kid, m.A.A.d cityKendrick Lamar · 20122012 · a film in album form
- 20
DS2Future · 20152015 · trap's melodic, toxic peak